March 22, 2017

A new infrared-light WiFi network can provide more than 40 gigabits per second (Gbps) for each user* — about 100 times faster than current WiFi systems — say researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands.

The TU/e WiFi design was inspired by experimental systems using ceiling LED lights (such as Oregon State University’s experimental WiFiFO, or WiFi Free space Optic, system), which… read more

March 22, 2017

Stanford bioengineers have developed liquid-handling robots to allow students to modify and create their own robotic systems that can transfer precise amounts of fluids between flasks, test tubes, and experimental dishes.

The bioengineers combined a Lego Mindstorms robotics kit with a cheap and easy-to-find plastic syringe to create robots that approach the performance of the far more costly automation systems found at universities and biotech labs.

March 20, 2017

A new method developed at MIT and National Chiao Tung University, based on specially treated sheets of graphene oxide, could make it possible to capture and analyze individual cells from a small sample of blood. It could potentially lead to very-low-cost diagnostic devices (less than $5 a piece) that are mass-producible and could be used almost anywhere for point-of-care testing, especially in resource-constrained settings.

March 20, 2017

Using just a simple inexpensive micro-thin glass surgical needle and laser light, University of Utah engineers have developed an inexpensive way to take high-resolution pictures of a mouse brain, minimizing tissue damage — a process they believe could lead to a much less invasive method for humans.

Typically, researchers must either surgically take a sample of the animal’s brain to examine the cells under a microscope or use… read more

March 17, 2017

MIT researchers have built a low-power chip specialized for automatic speech recognition. A cellphone running speech-recognition software might require about 1 watt of power; the new chip requires 100 times less power (between 0.2 and 10 milliwatts, depending on the number of words it has to recognize).

That could translate to a power savings of 90 to 99 percent, making voice control practical for wearables (especially watches,… read more

March 17, 2017

SpaceX has applied to the FCC to launch 11,943 satellites into low-Earth orbit, providing “ubiquitous high-bandwidth (up to 1Gbps per user, once fully deployed) broadband services for consumers and businesses in the U.S. and globally,” according to FCC applications.

Recent meetings with the FCC suggest that the plan now looks like “an increasingly feasible reality — particularly with 5G technologies just a few years away, promising new devices and new… read more

March 16, 2017

If you’re overweight and find it challenging to exercise regularly, now there’s good news: A less strenuous form of exercise known as whole-body vibration (WBV) can mimic the muscle and bone health benefits of regular exercise — at least in mice — according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s journal Endocrinology.

Lack of exercise is contributing to the obesity and diabetes epidemics, according to the researchers. These… read more

March 16, 2017

In a study published Tuesday Mar. 14 in the open-access journal eLife, researchers at Imperial College London found that applying transcranial alternating current stimulation (TACS) through the scalp helped to synchronize brain waves in different areas of the brain, enabling subjects to perform better on tasks involving short-term working memory.

The hope is that the approach could one day be used to bypass… read more

Nanowires provide higher resolution than anything achieved by other devices --- closer to the dense spacing of photoreceptors in the human retina

March 16, 2017

A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego and La Jolla-based startup Nanovision Biosciences Inc. have developed the first nanoengineered retinal prosthesis — a step closer to restoring the ability of neurons in the retina to respond to light.

The technology could help tens of millions of people worldwide suffering from neurodegenerative diseases that affect eyesight, including macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and loss of… read more

March 14, 2017

A team of researchers at MIT and in Japan and Germany has found a way to greatly reduce the effects of metal fatigue by incorporating a laminated nanostructure into the steel. The layered structuring gives the steel a kind of bone-like resilience, allowing it to deform without allowing the spread of microcracks that can lead to fatigue failure.

Metal fatigue can lead to abrupt and sometimes catastrophic… read more

March 14, 2017

Using extremely short pulses of teraHertz (THz) radiation instead of electrical currents could lead to future computers that run ten to 100,000 times faster than today’s state-of-the-art electronics, according to an international team of researchers, writing in the journal Nature Photonics.

In a conventional computer, electrons moving through a semiconductor occasionally run into other electrons, releasing energy in the form of heat and slowing them down. With the proposed… read more

March 10, 2017

University of Texas at Dallas researchers have created an atomic force microscope (AFM) on a chip, dramatically shrinking the size — and, hopefully, the price — of a microscope used to characterize material properties down to molecular dimensions.

March 10, 2017

Stanford chemical engineers have developed a soft, flexible plastic electrode that stretches like rubber but carries electricity like wires — ideal for brain interfaces and other implantable electronics, they report in an open-access March 10 paper in Science Advances.

Developed by Zhenan Bao, a professor of chemical engineering, and his team, the material is still a laboratory prototype, but the team hopes to develop it… read more

Dendrites found to generate nearly 10 times more electrochemical spikes than neuron cell bodies

March 10, 2017

The brain has more than 100 times higher computational capacity than was previously thought, a UCLA team has discovered.

Obsoleting neuroscience textbooks, this finding suggests that our brains are both analog and digital computers and could lead to new approaches for treating neurological disorders and developing brain-like computers, according to the researchers.

Dendrites have been considered simple passive conduits of signals. But by working… read more